Biological complexity: weird manganese eating bacteria (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, July 21, 2020, 19:01 (1586 days ago) @ David Turell

Found recently in a lab sink:

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/scientists-stumbled-across-first-known-manganese-fu...

"Scientists have discovered the first bacteria known to use the metal manganese to grow. And the researchers had to look only as far as the office sink.

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"When bacteria do borrow electrons from manganese, they convert the metal to a dark material called manganese oxide. Manganese oxide is found all over the planet — from deposits in Earth’s crust to the seafloor to drinking water. And, as it turned out, in Leadbetter’s glass jar.

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"Leadbetter and Yu first identified about 70 bacterial species in the jar, which likely came from the tap water. The pair then isolated two bacterial species that, when present together, generate manganese oxide. Given manganese carbonate, these bacteria multiplied exponentially. As the bacterial population size increased, the rate of manganese oxide production increased along with it, suggesting that the bacteria were using manganese as fuel.

"The team dubbed the newly identified species ‘Candidatus Manganitrophus noduliformans’ and Ramlibacter lithotrophicus. The researchers don’t yet know the exact role of each species. Both might be integral in generating energy from the manganese or one could be the main driver.

"The findings could help researchers manage manganese oxide that pollutes drinking water, says Amy Pruden, an environmental scientist at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg who was not involved in the study. “Now that we have an idea of who the manganese oxidizers are, we can start looking for them in drinking water systems and maybe we can find better controls.”

"Leadbetter suspects that similar bacteria may also be responsible for grapefruit-sized balls of manganese oxide on the ocean floor, first spotted in the 1870s, that have puzzled scientists. He wants to search there and other places for more examples of bacteria that use manganese for energy.

“'Let’s see if we can find these organisms in other environments,” Leadbetter says. “Not just my sink.'”

Comment: I've described electron-eating bacteria before. Not unusual.